Recruitment – Tips for Successful Onboarding

You may be concerned about attracting and retaining employees in 2023. Many industries are facing challenges with recruiting and retaining skilled workers, and economic uncertainty adds to the difficulty. Did you know that the average cost of finding a new employee is £7,729, which is why it’s important to start thinking about ways to keep your top talent?

Recruitment and retention are two of the most important aspects of building a successful team. However, with employee turnover rates expected to rise to 41%, it’s clear that many employers are struggling.

One key strategy is effective onboarding. Onboarding is the process of integrating new employees into a company and ensuring they have the tools and knowledge they need to succeed. Effective onboarding can help employees feel more connected to their new company, which in turn can improve retention rates.

But onboarding isn’t just about making new employees feel welcome. It’s also about setting them up for success. Of course, onboarding isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Companies need to consider the unique needs and perspectives of their employees. For example, hybrid or flexible work models have had the lowest overall turnover rates since 2019, peaking in 2022 with a turnover rate 5% lower than those fully office-based. Additionally, companies that offer value-based benefits that support health and well-being still appeal to employees and demonstrate genuine care and loyalty.

At Agility in Mind, we believe it’s best to hit the ground running and invest time and effort into your team from the get-go. But, bringing in new people is a change to the team and its dynamics which can cause a dip in productivity and team morale if it’s not done correctly.

Here are seven tips for successful onboarding to get your new employees:

1. Time – Most organisations have mandatory training on things like GDPR, health and safety, and information security. Give your new starter time to complete their mandatory training upfront, so they are not trying to fit it into gaps in their work schedule. That way, when the training is complete, they can focus on their work and apply what they have learned, without the context switching between working and training.
2. Onboarding Process – Have an onboarding process which is documented and repeatable. Reflect on the process regularly and make improvements based on feedback from the new starters. Remember to remove items with low value as well as add in new ideas.
3. Team Charter – When new members join a team, existing team members should talk them through the Team Charter. Whilst in the mid to long-term, bringing in a diversity of thinking is beneficial, in the short term, there may be misunderstandings. Get the new team member involved in creating or updating the charter.
4. Run catch-ups – Have regular catch-up training sessions for new starters so they benefit from training received from the rest of the team. Some organisations will regularly run introduction-level courses such as Introduction to Agile. This re-baselines people’s understanding of the common agile processes and can prevent antipatterns from previous companies from being introduced with new starters.
5. Real organisation training – Train new starters on the processes developed for the organisation, such as quarterly planning, dependency management or how highly configurable systems, a system such as Jira, have been set up for use in that organisation. It needs to tie in with the day-to-day experience of the team and not be a theoretical ideal, bearing little resemblance to reality.
6. Bite-sized teams – As the teams grow, it becomes harder to collaborate once a team gets to around 10 people, it is likely to become less effective. Splitting the team into smaller, more focused teams often results in an increased throughput compared to a single, larger team.
7. Bring in team players – People who are willing to occasionally work outside their specialism (sometimes called ‘Generalised Specialists’ or ‘T-shaped’ people) so the most valuable work can be progressed rather than pulling in the work to fit the people. This allows the team to focus on common goals rather than individual tasks.

In conclusion, recruitment and retention are critical to building a successful team, and effective onboarding is a key strategy for improving retention rates. By providing new employees with the tools and knowledge they need to succeed, companies can help keep their top talent engaged and motivated. And by considering the unique needs and perspectives of their employees, companies can create a workplace culture that fosters growth, development, and loyalty.

Sources:

• https://makeadifference.media/culture/retention-remains-a-priority-for-employee-wellbeing/